Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Caltrans Tries to Soften Effect of Repair Noise on Residents

As Caltrans workers rush to reconstruct three damaged Southland freeways, working around the clock at some sites with pile-drivers, pickup trucks and other noisy equipment, those in the surrounding neighborhoods are feeling another round of temblors, this time man-made.

“An earthquake starts and then stops and doesn’t make much noise but this shaking goes on all night and, believe me, it’s loud,” said Ida Miller, 72, a retiree who lives near the Santa Monica Freeway construction site.

Caltrans, aware that it is making a racket, has been reaching out to residents affected by the late-night noise with offers of compensation money and free hotel stays. But after going door to door in some neighborhoods with promises, Caltrans officials began backing away from the compensation on Friday, having determined that their initial offer went a bit too far.

“In order to get it done, we’re probably going to need to work around the clock, seven days a week,” said Caltrans regional director Jerry Baxter. “But we realize that it’s not fair for those people near the freeway to have to put up with all the noise.”

Initially, some residents near the construction were given two choices by Caltrans field representatives--move to a nearby hotel and submit the receipts to Caltrans for reimbursement, or stay put and accept $75 for every night that crews are making excessive noise.

One woman, Lisa Parker, was already planning how she would spend the money.

But Baxter said he discontinued the $75-a-day compensation on Friday when he discovered that his staffers were making such cash offers. The hotel offer still stands, he said.

“Our policy is to reimburse those who are suffering because of the noise for hotel stays,” Baxter said. “We’ve never paid people for sitting there and not doing anything.”

Also up in the air is exactly how far the Caltrans offer will extend from the actual construction sites. Caltrans staffers had told residents that the compensation would go to those living so close that noise levels would reach 86 decibels, equivalent to the noise level of some older airplanes on takeoff.

That threshold seems too high, Baxter said, but he did not have an alternative. He said he was not sure how many residents are entitled to move.

Buckled freeways lie near several residential areas, and Caltrans says it has extended the offers of compensation to residents living adjacent to all the damaged sites.

Most of the affected residents live along the Santa Monica Freeway at Fairfax and La Cienega boulevards. Other bridges or overpasses collapsed at the interchange of the Antelope Valley and Golden State freeways near Sylmar, on the Golden State Freeway at Gavin Canyon and on the Simi Valley Freeway at San Fernando Mission Boulevard.

Along the Santa Monica Freeway, residents vary widely in their reaction to the noise, which was severe during the demolition of the damaged overpasses and will get bad again when construction begins in earnest.

“There is going to be noise,” said Councilman Nate Holden, who has recommended a complete lifting of city noise restrictions for the Caltrans crews. “The residents I’ve talked to understand that this is a state of emergency and that they have to bite the bullet on this.”

If the problem grows severe, Holden said, he will call for the construction of makeshift sound walls to buffer the noise.

Some residents, unaware that the $75-per-day compensation offer had been withdrawn, said that for that kind of money, which is comparable to a $27,000-per-year salary, they could live with the noise. At least one resident refused the money and the hotel stay, saying accepting it seemed wrong in a time of disaster.

Most seem to be suffering through the racket of the night.

“The noise is so bad I’m having trouble sleeping and am getting headaches,” said Chung Il Cho, who can see workers from his front yard. “The best thing they can do is fix it fast.”